Source: spokesman of the president of Unioncamere Veneto – press office of Unioncamere Veneto – Eurosportello Veneto

Venice, 13 October 2009 – According to the VenetoCongiuntura survey, retail sales of the second quarter of 2009 decreased by 6.5% compared to the same period in 2008 and increased by 1.4% compared to the first quarter of 2009.

Sales registered a slightly negative performance as for food products -0.5%, while non-food products experienced a larger decrease: -10.7%.
Smaller shops encountered more difficulties (-8.6%) than bigger ones (-1.2%).
Sales prices diminished by 0.3% on a trend basis, after a substantially stable year.

Orders to suppliers fell on an annual basis: -6.5% as against the 2.3% decrease of the first quarter of 2009, due to a downturn in the orders of non-food products (-9.8%), while food products decreased by “only” 1.7%.

Employment keeps being problematic, registering a 1.3% decrease compared to the second quarter of 2008, although employment related to food products rose by 2.1%.

Forecasts
Entrepreneurs’ confidence is still low for the second half of 2009, although some positive signs have been noticed.

SERVICES
According to the VenetoCongiuntura survey, the turnover of some activities in the services sector registered a contraction on a trend basis, except innovative services which marked a rise in turnover.
Turnover in the sector of hotels, restaurants and tourism services also experienced a fall compared to the same quarter one year ago (-2.9%), as well as the sector of transport, warehousing and logistics (-13.9%).
The only services with a positive change are innovative and technological ones, with a 2.8% trend increase.

On the other hand, compared to the previous quarter of 2009, all the indicators mark increases: +1.8% for innovative services, +5.1% for the sector of hotels, restaurants and tourism services, +1% for transport.

Sales prices dropped by 0.6% both in the innovative and technological services and in the tourism sectors, by 0.5% in the transport sector.
The employment performance remained negative mainly due to the downturn in the tourism and transport sectors, which respectively registered -5.4% and -3.6%.
Employment in the innovative services sector, on the other hand, marked a positive trend change of 3%.

Forecasts
Entrepreneurs’ confidence remains low with respect to the next six months. Lower expectations mainly in the tourism sector which suffers seasonality, and in the transport sector (-16.2%).
More optimism can be found in the innovative services sector.

Mr. Federico Tessari, president of Unioncamere Veneto
REMARK

«The second quarter of 2009 confirms the overall slowdown in our service industry as well. However, it also attests that there has been a stabilization of short-term indicators. Above all, annual performances of innovative and technological services are surprisingly good with a 2.8% increase, being the only ones to hold a positive trend.
Companies in the Veneto region are thus reorganising their activities: on one hand from the point of view of product and process innovation, and on the other hand for what concerns investments in technology. As for trade, positive signs can be detected in family consumption, registering a 1.4% increase».

Facts and figures about the whole survey can be consulted in Italian in the following website: www.veneto.congiuntura.it, clicking on “Vendite al dettaglio” in the homepage.